About this listing

With Airbnb, you can find unique accommodations in people's homes—from houses and apartments, to tree houses and igloos. The listing details below explain what you'll find in this space. If you have any questions, you can contact the host directly.

NOTE: 1-day rental minimum only applies in exception cases. 2 day rentals accepted within 14 days of request, or in between 2 longer rentals, as most of our requests are for 1 week to several months. We accept reservations up to 6 months from present date, with exceptions for longer-term rentals such as an entire month or quarter.

Two local shopping districts are within walking distance and include a U.S. Post Office, a gas station, 24-hour Safeway, CVS pharmacy, 2 Starbucks, 2 delis, and The Dutch Goose local landmark student and family pub.

Per (website hidden) maps, the walking distance to the middle of Stanford campus is only 2.0 miles, 38 minutes. Walking distance to Stanford Hospital or clinics is 1.6 miles, 32 minutes. The Stanford Driving Range is even closer, open to the public and very reasonably priced at only $3 for 25 balls!

Also within walking distance are Las Lomitas Elementary and La Entrada Middle Schools. This is an ideal set-up for a out-of-towners wanting to spend time with friends or family in the area.

LOVELY SETTING, GREAT HIKING
Tucked back from the street on a private driveway, shared with only one other house. Includes convenient off-street parking. West Menlo Park is full of bike paths and nice, easy walks. Cottage is less than 3 miles from the closest entrance to the Stanford “Dish Walk,” a 5-mile paved path through the foothills with spectacular views of the entire Bay, from San Francisco to San Jose! And there’s lots of great hiking in the surrounding foothills.

BONUS STUDIO OPTION
There is a separate studio apartment unit attached to the cottage, rented separately on airbnb. If you are interested in renting the studio for extra guests or family members, please let us know.

BIKE OPTION
Many of our guests are international scholars coming to teach, research or study at Stanford. Many of them prefer not to rent a car and have been happy to be walking or biking distance from campus. If you'd like to bike, we have a spare bike we rent you at a nominal cost: $5 a day, $25 a week or $75 a month plus $150 fully refundable deposit. It's a medium-sized 15-speed Huffy with handbrakes.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
We are also less than 30 minutes’ drive from both San Francisco (SFO) and San Jose (SJC) airports, except during rush hours, when it’s of course longer.

Alternatively, you can take the train from SFO airport—not fast, but very inexpensive:
(1) BART directly from SFO to Millbrae CalTrain station (about 15 min, approx $4)
(2) train to Menlo Park (under 30 minutes, approx $5)
(3) then right down Santa Cruz Ave from the station (20-minute brisk walk or very short taxi ride).

HELPFUL HOSTS
We live right next door and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the area or provide recommendations, and are available if you need any assistance once you've arrived.

Will consider pets with solid references and an additional fully refundable security deposit of $250.

SHOE FREE
We have maintained the cottage as a shoe-free space. We ask that you keep shoes off indoors to ensure that the floor is extra-clean for yourself and other guests.

RECYCLING
We are very diligent about recycling everything possible, which our excellent local recycling service makes possible, which encourages us to recycle over 50% of all waste. They make it easy, with glass, metal, plastic and clean paper can all be recycled in the same container, and composting in another. Of course we provide details in the house manual.

NO SMOKING
No smoking allowed on our property. No exceptions.

LEGAL INTERNET USE ONLY
Comcast, our high-speed ISP, expressly forbids illegal downloads using bit-torrent or similar technology. Unfortunately, there have been some issue with this in the past, so must ask our guests to agree to this policy in writing upon arrival.

38 Reviews

Laurel's cottage was exactly like her picture, very clean and conveniently located. The place is quiet, and the household supply is fully in stock. Her son Danny greeted us when we arrive and Laurel even comeby with cockies during our one week stay! Highly recommend this place for any one travel to Bay area.

I want to thank Laurel for making my family's trip up to Stanford for my graduation extremely pleasant and comfortable. Her home was exactly what they were looking for - quant, convenient, clean, and most of all, it felt like home. Laurel and her son Danny made the check-in process a breeze and were reachable by text, email or call at any time. I wholeheartedly recommend staying with Laurel to experience what Silicon Valley has to offer, without coordinating a hotel in busy downtown PA or noisy El Camino. Thank you for everything Laurel!

Dylan, Thanks for the lovely review! We are at this very moment staying with Airbnb hosts in my husband's native UK, and I couldn't agree more-- no comparison with hotels. Not to mention about half the price! :)

I was hesitating to write this review because people will keep this property occupied forever and leaving my family no availability.

We are there for the silicon valley tour, Laurel's house was within 30 miles of Apple, Google, Dreamworks, Nasa, Facebook and Samsung, and there is a 24-hour full-size supermarket at the end of the street, 8 mins to downtown Palo Alto with lots of activities and restaurant, we went to downtown Moutainview (20 min drive) for dinner because it had a great Chinese restaurant.

I had a great stay at Laurel's cottage. The place was clean and well equipped and I was very comfortable throughout my stay. It was definitely an advantage to have a car with me, since the neighborhood is very residential and quiet, which was a plus. The kitchen had everything that I could need to cook meals for myself, and there were many stores within an easy commute. Beds were very comfortable, and Laurel was easy to communicate with when I had questions. I highly recommend Laurel's cottage and would love to stay here again.

The cottage is conveniently located in a quite and green area. The house is full of light and very confortable. The kitchen is well furnished and easily allows to cook and enjoy the terrace.
It was a pleasure to meet Laurel. She is a very welcoming, attentive and discrete host.

About the Host, Laurel

My husband Steve and I are long-time local residents; I was born in Palo Alto, so a real native! Steve is from England; we were high-school sweethearts (his dad was at SLAC for a year), then we reconnected 20+ years later & got married! Now we're empty nesters with 4 kids in our blended family, all living in California. We have a successful home-based marketing agency, so we’re around most of the time for your convenience and security.

We love hosting and also traveling-- to my husband's native UK (lots of family & friends still there). Have been to China, Cuba, and much of western Europe. Hoping to travel more in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

In the US, we love road trip in the Western state (our Tesla is our biggest splurge!), and exploring big cities, especially NYC & LA.Our favorite trip of all was a family stay in New Orleans-- fabulous music, food, history & people!

We are Michael Pollan converts and think his 7-word food philosophy sums it up beautifully: "eat food (as opposed to food-like products), not too much, mostly plants." We buy local, sustainable, organic as much as we can.